Mannheimer Morgen - October 22, 2001
by Angela K. Stumpf translation by Astrid Nolde-Gallasch"I'm connected to Germany through big love"
"It was a totally crazy day", the words bubble out of Chris de Burgh, when the Mannheimer Morgen (newspaper) met the singer in the Rosengarten. Yesterday morning everything had been normal in his home country Ireland. "I got up at 7 o'clock, brought the children to school, and went for a walk with my wife.", he tells. After a short visit to the construction site, where he rebuilds an old house since many years, he sat down in the plane to Germany. "And suddenly I am a star", the 53 year old is happy. "That's really very flattering. I come to a dinner - beautiful women smile at me and men I've never seen before shake my hand and tell me funny stories." Indeed Chris de Burgh is the most famous singer of this year's "Ball der Sterne" in the Rosengarten, but there is no sign of star allures. He almost seems a bit shy, but still self-confident. "I'm not nervous at all about such an appearance", he explains, "I get all the energy that I need for a concert from my audience. I cannot be excited, for I wouldn't be able to give all my attention to the spectators then." The family father celebrated his birthday one week ago, but he'd rather not talk about his age. "The number sounds so old", finds Chris, "but I don't feel like it - rather the opposite". The evening before the "egyptian night" he celebrated despite his 53 years. "When I heard that Cliff Richard's birthday was just one day before mine, I spontaneously asked him up on stage and together we sang 'Long And Winding Road'", reports the soft singer, for this is one of his favourite songs. Smilingly he told that Cliff didn't know the words, "but I whispered everything to him, that was really great". Anyway - the singer spends almost only great times in Germany, he says. He loves German food, he celebrates his biggest musical success here and in this country he experienced the most important events of his career. "The connection to Germany is like a big love affair for me", thinks Chris. At home in Ireland the singer lives with his wife and his three children in an old castle. "I am very happy that I can spend so much time with my family", he tells. "My daughter is 17 years old, and a very uncomplicated teenager. My sons are 13 and 10 years old and I am dying to see what we will face in their adolescence." The most important thing in education for him is that his children grow up in stability, "and they must always be treated fairly." Chris de Burgh's real name is Chris Davison, but he changed his name right at the beginning of his career as an artist. "I took the name of my mother, because it sounds more interesting and I like the history of this name", he explains. Most people still connect this name with his hit "Lady In Red". "You'd think that this is my favourite song, but that's not true", says the Irish Lord, "from my songs I like 'Spanish Train' best, because it was very difficult to write the words. But also 'The Same Sun' is very important for him. "Whereever you are or love in the world, you see the same stars, the same moon, the same sun - the song for me is a connection between people", he emphasizes.